STEPHANIE JACQUES

‘This work also has its roots in my personal history. My adolescence was poisoned by sever scoliosis (deformation of the vertebral column). I spent a lot of time with orthopaedists. I wore plasters and corsets up until the operation on my spine, which was straightened with the help of pins. I had to give up dancing. Choosing clothes was tricky too. I was really into jeans. Wearing dresses and skirts was a matter of camouflage more than personal preference. When I made the first little dress from telephone cable, these memories came to the surface. The Miss Metonymy sculptures are constructed like a vertebral column. This curve is the possibility of not being straightened. For a long time I have been trying to create a figure that stands upright. Strangely enough, it was by abandoning the idea of verticality that it became possible. So yes, all of this is related to the questions I ask myself about femininity and sexual identity. My driving forces are the emotions, the wants and the impossibilities that are particular to me. Once all this comes out, I seek to make it resonate in others. My work is not a lament, but a place where I can transform things to go on.’